Parsienne Gown – Frances & Oliver

June 6, 2019

Real Brides

Parsienne Gown – Frances & Oliver

COUPLE’S NAMES

Frances Buchner and Oliver Booth

Wedding Date

22 December 2018

LOCATION

We got married In Wellington, in the Western Cape, South Africa.

Ceremony: Langkloof Roses. It had a very relaxed feeling, while at the same time being very naturally beautiful. (It is a working rose farm). We thought this would create the perfect tone to start the wedding. The ceremony venue was also quite a big contrast to our reception venue which we wanted to keep as a surprise for our guests.

Reception: The Old Tannery. The moment we saw it, we fell in love with it. We both love Italy, and it reminded us so much of an old Italian courtyard where people gather and celebrate. The venue is also quite unique – it is in the courtyard of an old Tannery, where there had been a fire and the buildings had been vacated. They were partially restored whilst maintaining the integrity of the original Tannery. The buildings are incredibly beautiful, and they come alive at night under the lights. It was a blank space which we could truly make our own.

GUEST TOTAL

140

PHOTOGRAPHER

Ayeh Khalatbari and Mischa Durrant. One of the first things we knew we wanted was for our wedding to be captured by this magical team. We love how they capture emotion in a very natural way. Nothing is staged, and their use of light is astounding. What we really loved about the way they captured our wedding is that they encapsulated the joy of the occasion so perfectly. Looking at the photos transports us back to the very moment they were taken.

BRIDES DRESS

Both of my dresses were Bo & Luca gowns. The Parisienne was the first Bo & Luca dress that I tried on, and I could not have dreamed of a more beautiful or perfect dress! The Anais is a beautiful slip dress, which was the absolute perfect party dress.

BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES

The bridesmaids wore black jumpsuits, all from Forever New. There were 4 different top styles, with wide long pants (they looked like dresses when they were on). The girls looked so sophisticated and beautiful, and I just loved that the groomsmen and bridesmaids were all in black.

ENGAGEMENT STORY

It was a beautiful mountain setting and we were in our favourite town in South Africa, Franschhoek. Oli was so nervous, that once he had the ring behind his back, he started moving to get down on one knee, but he was still at least ten steps away from me. It also took him about 15 seconds to actually get down on one knee and it looked like he was going in slow motion. I was initially very confused as to what was going on!! Very funny to witness, and we will both never forget the occasion!

WEDDING THEME

We didn’t have a theme, but the inspiration came from our last trip to Italy. Whilst in the town of Orvieto in Umbria, we were invited to a street festival by one of the local chefs. We didn’t know what to expect, but when we arrived it was in a big courtyard and all the restaurants had brought their own tables outside, and the chefs prepared lots of their own dishes and brought them out onto the tables for everyone to share and enjoy. We spent the evening sharing amazing food and wine, making new friends, and dancing to the live band. This was everything we wanted at our own wedding.

WEDDING RINGS

My engagement ring as quite a vintage feel to it, with a round solitaire in the center, 2 small square diamonds besides the center stone, and an eternity band all set in rose gold. The center stone belonged to my grandmother, so it has extra special meaning to me. My wedding ring is a combination of round and baguette diamonds, also set in rose gold. Oli has a round-edged rose gold wedding band.

WEDDING FAVOURS

Each guest received a small bottle of Limoncello, which Oli’s mom made and bottled.

FLOWERS & BOUQUETS

The floral arrangements at our wedding were absolutely beautiful. We wanted to create a very lush feel at the wedding but did not want to do too many flowers. We wanted lots of greenery and texture.
The bridal bouquet and the bridesmaid’s bouquets were very colourful and textural, there was even a whole passion fruit in my bouquet.

CAKE

We had a delicious Ricotta Cassata Cake.

WEDDING SONGS

Our first dance song was: Mumford & Sons, Baaba Maal – There Will Be Time. The DJ’s were unbelievable and were accompanied by a live Sax player. The general style of music was very eclectic, but they made sure everyone was on the dancefloor all night! It is incredibly difficult to accommodate everyone’s specific tastes, but the DJ’s somehow managed to do that!

FOOD & BEVERAGES

We love food and wanted it to be one of the highlights of the evening. It was sort of a tapas to table style menu filled with our favourite foods For the cocktail hour we had a taco station and a poke bowl station. We sat down for the mains, but it was tapas sharing to the table. The deserts were really fun as they were interactive and served to the guests while they were on the dancefloor. We had candy floss clouds carried by the waiters where the guests could pick pieces off, and we also had edible marshmallow tulips.
For the drinks, we had a mobile prosecco bar which later turned into a coffee bar. The bar consisted of our favourite wines and lots of tequila (it was an open bar).

HONEYMOON

We did not go on a honeymoon immediately after our wedding, as it was right before Christmas. Instead, we spent Christmas together with our families and friends. We will be heading off to Barcelona and for our honeymoon soon!

GIFTS REGISTRY

We did not have a gift registry, but rather just asked our guests to contribute to our honeymoon fund.

MEMORABLE MOMENT

It is very hard to choose the most memorable. But once we arrived at the ceremony to the reception venue, we had an amazing musician playing the accordion and he led us and all of our wedding guests into the reception venue.

ADVICE FOR BRIDES-TO-BE

I must have been one of the most relaxed brides leading up to my wedding, so I guess my advice would be that. Don’t take it all too seriously. Your wedding day is literally the most amazing, the fun, crazy, FAST day of your life. Spend less energy worrying about the small things, and put it all into experiencing and appreciating the day. (And if you are able to do so, get a wedding planner!).